1. Field of the Invention
In order to neutralize acids during degradation reactions of proteins and during degradation reactions of fats, a chemical product having magnesium oxide, magnesium hydroxide or both is applied as a preservative to animal or animal part containing fats, proteins or both.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A significant portion of proteins of animal or animal part consists of various forms of amino acids. (Please note that animal part is selected from the group consisting of "meat, meat by-product, blood, blood product and animal feed". The phrase "animal part" also serves as a general term representing any number of cells of an animal. In addition, please note that the phrase "animal feed" refers to "animal or animal part that contains proteins and/or fats and that serves as feed for carnivorous animal".) A portion of fats of animal or animal part (selected from the group consisting of meat, meat by-product and animal feed) consists of fatty acids. Although amino acids are essential to the building of DNA and RNA, when amino acids are released into animal or animal part containing proteins (selected from the group consisting of meat, meat by-product, blood, blood product and animal feed), the pH of animal or animal part containing proteins is decreased by acidification. Similarly, when fatty acids are released into animal or animal part containing fats (selected from the group consisting of meat, meat by-product and animal feed), the pH of animal or animal part containing fats is decreased by acidification.
In most cases, degradation of proteins begins by oxidation of proteins releasing amino acids. Similarly, degradation of fats begins by oxidation of fats releasing fatty acids. To delay degradation of proteins, oxidation of proteins should be avoided. Similarly, to delay degradation of fats, oxidation of fats should be avoided. In recent years, to inhibit oxidation of fats and proteins, anti-oxidants have been added to animal or animal part containing fats and proteins. Tests have been run on meat and meat by-product. Vitamin E (Tocopheryl Acetate) has been shown to inhibit oxidation of fats and proteins in meat and meat by-product. Degradation of animal or animal part containing fats and/or proteins (selected from the group consisting of meat, meat by-product and animal feed) is accelerated by acidification of fats and/or proteins contained therein. Upon undergoing acidification, animal or animal part containing fats and/or proteins is further degraded to fats and proteins (F&P). Reduced amino acids of proteins of animal or animal part is further reduced to ammonia and sulfides. As proteins degrade to acidified amino acids, the pH of proteins drops, increasing degradation of proteins and associated production of amino acids, sulfides and ammonia.
Sulfides produce sulfuric acid which furthers degradation of proteins of animal or animal part (with meat, meat by-product or animal feed commonly referred to as "rancid meat", "rancid meat by-product" or "rancid animal feed", respectively). Rancid meat is acidic. Rancid meat by-product (as well as other rancid protein by-product, including "rancid blood" and "rancid blood product"), not only have a value which is significantly less than high quality recycled proteins, but also pose a significantly noteworthy safety issue and equipment costing issue. It is well known that rancid blood and proteins contain a significant amount of sulfides. Therefore, blood-carrying carrying vessels, such as empty blood trucks, contain lethal amounts of hydrogen sulfide, as well as ammonia. When processed for animal consumption, rancid animal feed are corrosive to processing equipment. Recycled animal part containing protein becomes toxic with ammonia, acids, acid salts and sulfides and loses its value in entirety when significant levels of ammonia and sulfides intoxication is reached.
In the past, the food and beverage industries have attempted unsuccessfully to find a solution to the above issues. By using various stabilizers, methods have been developed to delay fat and protein degradation and stabilize fats and proteins in acidic media. However, the association between stabilizers and fats and proteins in many such suspensions is merely mechanical in nature. As a result, the fats and proteins precipitate out of the acidic medium over relatively short periods of time when subjected to conventional storage conditions for such compositions. In addition, these suspensions demonstrate this temporary stability only within a narrow acidic pH range.
The concept of treating fatty and/or proteic foodstuffs with a preservative is not new and is of course not per se claimed to be novel. Some patents that have been issued in an attempt to provide compositions and methods for preserving fats and proteins follow. However, such patents are limited in their scope of protection and coverage. For example,
Colarow et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,169, issued on Aug. 6, 1996, patent a lysolecithin/polymer composition, that when added to food product containing proteins, causes stabilization of the proteins to heat.
Connolly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,725, issued on Apr. 25, 1995, patents methods for stabilizing proteins in an acid pH environment. In particular, a chemical reaction between proteins and galactomanman to achieve protein stability in acid pH media is promoted.
Pearson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,945, issued on Oct. 9, 1990, patents a food preservative composition comprising alum and citric acid.
Dahlstrom, U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,484, issued on Apr. 17, 1984, patents a method for preservation of meat product by incorporating in meat product 3-(4-tolysulfonyl)acrylonitrile, together with an alkali metal nitrite salt.
Aversano, U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,909, issued on Nov. 22, 1983, patents a method of treatment of meat by using a meat preservative with a composition comprising between about 10% to 40% of each of the following constituents: (1) ascorbic acid and/or the sodium or potassium salts thereof; (2) citric acid and/or the sodium or potassium salts thereof; (3) sodium or potassium carbonate; and (4) sulfite, bisulfite or metabisulfite of sodium or potassium.
Cerrillo, U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,344, issued on Jun. 10, 1980, patents processes for protecting proteic foodstuff against spoilage. The foodstuff is immersed in a stabilizer composed of a buffer solution, a proteolytic enzyme and an antioxidant. The foodstuff can, then, be reconstituted by rapidly reversing its pH by immersion in a hypotonic solution to kill bacteria present in the foodstuff, immersing it in a hypertonic solution to eliminate the hypotonic solution and, finally, rehydrating the foodstuff.
Brotsky, U.S. Pat. No. 3,875,313, issued on Apr. 1, 1975, patents a method of treating meat by a meat-treating composition comprising anhydrous sodium tripolyphosphate hexahydrate wherein water of hydration contains lemon juice solids.
The above-listed patents and many other similar inventions have been developed, some of which still exist in the market. Although many different issues have been solved by application of previously- and presently-existing preservatives of animal or animal part, there still remains room for improvement in the area of preservation of animal or animal part. There remains a need for improved chemical products and methods for application of said chemical products to increase the shelf-life of animal or animal part (selected from the group consisting of meat, meat by-product, blood, blood product and animal feed) containing fats, proteins or both.
By stabilizing their pH, the value and shelf-life of animal or animal part containing fats, proteins or both can be increased significantly. The preservative presented in this invention has the ability to stabilize the pH of animal or animal part containing fats, proteins or both and, thereby, stabilize degradation reactions of fats and proteins.